Here is the proof that, with a few ideas and a lot of talent, one can easily compose a perfect black metal album on his own! Indeed, Ashen Horde’s (aka. Trevor Portz) second LP is a masterpiece of destructive power, unpredictable variations and edifying strength. Thus, thinking that all of it is out of a single man’s (tortured?) soul is a huge listening pleasure.

Ashen Horde goes his own way among 5-or-6-members-full bands and tends to show that he is going to give them a painful headache. Impressively mixing Norway-influenced black (Midwinter’s Lust, Sacrificial Devotion) and death metal tones (Baited Breath, Mind Over Slaughter), the composer literally sets fire to the totems of the genre and burn them to the ground to better give them a second birth. Incredible vocals (sometimes sounding like Dimmu Borgir’s Shagrath minus exaggeration and boring self-esteem), obvious progressive and successful experimental musical attempts (Mindwinter’s Loss) as well as astonishing heavy moments (Trail Of Blood, The Gauntlet) end up proving that Trevor Portz exactly knows what he is aiming for to create his personal style in the actual noisy disorder.

Sanguinum Vindicta is incredibly classy; a transcending, melodic and technically irreproachable album of high value. Dark and possessed, it leads us to the edge of a tumultuous and cold abyss where genius lightnings shine like funeral sparkles ready to enlighten the place. The violence contained in all 10 tracks of the record is wonderfully mastered by Trevor Portz, but, above all, accessible to everybody. Such a mix of inner-self vocals, eloquent guitar riffs and explosive drums blasts take each listener close to the cliffs of madness and insanity, ready to dive into the vicious circles of the human soul, in an untold darkness where unhealthy behaviors are eternally and inexorably opposite to mental balance, as we are all waiting to see which one is about to win the war. Ashen Horde stands for this ominous paradox we all have deep inside of us and asks us about the exit door we will choose to open, whatever it is.

Thus, this record is as excellent, insane and bright as anxious and innovative. The Sleeper must awaken…